There were many extremely good points regarding politics and internet use in Photoshop for Democracy, The New Relationship between Politics and Popular Culture. It opened up with a scenario of characters that everyone is familiar with, Donald Trump and George Bush, and showed how the use of the internet can make just about anything happen. The editing done in film from the two of them made a completely different video that many people found humorous. Though it was degrading our president it shows that politics and the internet have created a bond where people's opinions can be easily displayed. Slapping the presidents behind in an online computer game reaffirms the point that the creator of the Trump/Bush scene wanted, and this is all done with the internet regarding politics.
The article talks again about the tools present in today's society and how they are used. In our previous article, Smart Mobs, they touched on this same point. The way people choose to use today's technologies is the point these two authors are trying to touch on. Smart Mobs focused more on cell phone usage, and Photoshop for Democracy is explaining how the internet is changing politics. Photoshop quotes, "His staff (referring to John Kerry in the 2004 elections) used blogging to create a more intimate, real-time relationship with his supporters." This quote is the idea that politics on the internet is a very popular and effective mechanism. Though it is all still done through the internet, it’s the technologies, not the actual people who make this happen. People have these grand ideas but the internet and its various tools are what transform these ideas into visual representations. Youtube is a perfect example of this. Almost anything can be found on youtube and it is all put on there by the public. Photos are also used as examples of taking political images and making them swayed in ways to show embarrassment. Photoshop again quotes on this subject, "The use of images may be blunt, and when Bush's face is morphed into Hitler's of Mad Magazine icon Alfred E. Neuman, or when Kerry's face gets warped to look like Herman Munster."
The article talks about Popular Culture and how it is involved with children and the youth.
The article also touches on how they think children do not feel involved because they are not allowed to vote until the age of 18 therefore they are not looked at as political subjects. They do not become involved with the news because they feel that it has nothing to do with them. Children chose to take the computer game, "Sims" and through their experiences with the game it was only then that people started to realize the intensity and confusion that kids felt regarding political dilemmas.
As I said before, Photoshop for Democracy touches on many important issues that are present in today's society. These things will continue to be present in daily life if changes are not made. The internet will continue to be an issue for both Democrats and Republicans, but while it will have its issues and problems it will continue to excel and educate. It's a catch 22 yet it's our world.
Please enjoy this youtube clip of a fellow American displaying his ideas on improving American politics!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tvju0Nmja8
Saturday, April 26, 2008
this new development called the internet (revised)
The reading from Douglas Rushkoff was a little tricky to understand but I did feel that I got a little bit of a better understanding of it after rereading it. Douglas Rushkoffs main focus throughout his article is the internet. The main thing that I caught from Rushkoff was the fact that people, at first, didn’t know that the new development of the internet would take off so quickly. Once it did people were kind of aw-struck and didn’t know how to handle it. This is an understandable reaction because it wasn’t expected therefore it was difficult for people to understand how to fix it due to its new progress. A few ways that Rushkoff explained regarding how people did fix the internet problem was USENET and online communities. Early adopters chose to emphasize on community sharing and so forth to help solve the problems. As it advanced over time the internet became known as the Web and it became a broadcasting platform. The government tried to control it, like the pornographic sites and encryption technologies but was unable to control all internet communities. Looking at the internet today in 2008 compared to back when it began I would say it has been handled very well.
People have continued, and will continue, to come up with new ideas and plan on how to convert advertisements and profit in ways that the television has through the years. A simple example of this is when people watch television episodes online from such websites like ABC or NBC.com. If you miss an episode on TV, and for some un-god reason you don’t have DVR (that was a joke- laugh) you can watch that full episode online. It’s actually nice because the time they give for commercials is cut back from around 3 minutes to only 30 seconds, and instead of watching a variety of commercials you only have 1 to deal with. They have encompassed advertising with the internet, and this will only continue as the internet becomes more and more apart of our daily lives.
So if for some reason you missed LOST, seasons 1, 2, and 3, and are interested in starting season 4 please click the link below and enjoy hours upon hours on the island with just a few advertising interruptions.
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing?lid=ABCCOMGlobalMenu&lpos=FEP
People have continued, and will continue, to come up with new ideas and plan on how to convert advertisements and profit in ways that the television has through the years. A simple example of this is when people watch television episodes online from such websites like ABC or NBC.com. If you miss an episode on TV, and for some un-god reason you don’t have DVR (that was a joke- laugh) you can watch that full episode online. It’s actually nice because the time they give for commercials is cut back from around 3 minutes to only 30 seconds, and instead of watching a variety of commercials you only have 1 to deal with. They have encompassed advertising with the internet, and this will only continue as the internet becomes more and more apart of our daily lives.
So if for some reason you missed LOST, seasons 1, 2, and 3, and are interested in starting season 4 please click the link below and enjoy hours upon hours on the island with just a few advertising interruptions.
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing?lid=ABCCOMGlobalMenu&lpos=FEP
A few pieces of wood (revised)
After reading this article by Postman I can’t help but to agree and disagree with many of his statements. I somewhat agree when he says that politics is like a show business but I believe that it is up to the individual to further look into candidates running in political campaigns. When Postman talked about people viewing commercials regarding political problems and seeing fast solutions due to the commercials being only 30 seconds long, I believe that if people are truly interested in politics they will take those commercials and look deeper into the problems and the candidates. It’s up to the individual how much they choose to want to learn about candidates. I think Postman needs to consider this as a positive outcome because those who further look into candidates help contribute to the nation’s problems. By understanding these problems then finding a candidate who will help fix these problems helps everyone out as a whole.
I’m very happy that I waited until today to write my blog on Postman’s article because as I’m sure everyone now knows, Democrat John Edwards has dropped out of the presidential race. I know this does not have much to do with Postman’s article but one of the things that Postman says in his writing touches on what I saw today when I was watching Edwards drop out of the running. Just to set the record straight, I do support Edwards and I do believe in a lot of the things that he was and is pushing for to help better the United States. I believe he would have made a good president, but I also believe that he knew that there were two other people ahead of him who the United States would rather support. Making it clear that I do like Edwards I would like to comment on something Postman said in his article and something I saw on TV today. Postman quoted, “if politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether” (Postman 126). When I was watching Edwards step out of the race today I saw something that sort of disturbed me. After he had given his speech, and while the cameras were still rolling, Edwards along with his son (at least I think it was his son) were shown helping put up some wood strips on the porch where he gave his speech. The owner of the porch was a victim of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, and with what was shown it was clear that the owner’s house was not fully back to normal. Now I know that one of the things that Edwards fights for is getting victims and New Orleans back on their feet. During his speech today he did say a lot about how there are still homeless victims in New Orleans and how he will not forget about them, but I just thought it was kind of a cheap shot to show him put up a few pieces of wood. I personally have gone down south 6 times to help rebuild houses that were hit by Hurricane Katrina and I think that is why I was so disturbed by what I saw. A few pieces of wood are not going to help anything but make Edwards, or as Postman would say, appear to be excellent and honest. The only thing I can hope for is that viewers watched that segment and instead of getting hostile like me at seeing him and his construction skills, hopefully they will see that 29 months later there is still much needed work to be done.
I have attached the video, via youtbue and CNN of Edwards dropping out of the presidential race. Please take notice to the background camera shots and all the commotion of people behind him. Unfortunately I was unable to find any footage of Edwards after his speech there he was shown messing with his “few pieces of wood.” But back in January, believe me the cameras did show him and his little participation. In my opinion Postman would agree that Edwards is displaying exactly what he is talking about in his article.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WxnX_US4Ag
I’m very happy that I waited until today to write my blog on Postman’s article because as I’m sure everyone now knows, Democrat John Edwards has dropped out of the presidential race. I know this does not have much to do with Postman’s article but one of the things that Postman says in his writing touches on what I saw today when I was watching Edwards drop out of the running. Just to set the record straight, I do support Edwards and I do believe in a lot of the things that he was and is pushing for to help better the United States. I believe he would have made a good president, but I also believe that he knew that there were two other people ahead of him who the United States would rather support. Making it clear that I do like Edwards I would like to comment on something Postman said in his article and something I saw on TV today. Postman quoted, “if politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether” (Postman 126). When I was watching Edwards step out of the race today I saw something that sort of disturbed me. After he had given his speech, and while the cameras were still rolling, Edwards along with his son (at least I think it was his son) were shown helping put up some wood strips on the porch where he gave his speech. The owner of the porch was a victim of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, and with what was shown it was clear that the owner’s house was not fully back to normal. Now I know that one of the things that Edwards fights for is getting victims and New Orleans back on their feet. During his speech today he did say a lot about how there are still homeless victims in New Orleans and how he will not forget about them, but I just thought it was kind of a cheap shot to show him put up a few pieces of wood. I personally have gone down south 6 times to help rebuild houses that were hit by Hurricane Katrina and I think that is why I was so disturbed by what I saw. A few pieces of wood are not going to help anything but make Edwards, or as Postman would say, appear to be excellent and honest. The only thing I can hope for is that viewers watched that segment and instead of getting hostile like me at seeing him and his construction skills, hopefully they will see that 29 months later there is still much needed work to be done.
I have attached the video, via youtbue and CNN of Edwards dropping out of the presidential race. Please take notice to the background camera shots and all the commotion of people behind him. Unfortunately I was unable to find any footage of Edwards after his speech there he was shown messing with his “few pieces of wood.” But back in January, believe me the cameras did show him and his little participation. In my opinion Postman would agree that Edwards is displaying exactly what he is talking about in his article.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WxnX_US4Ag
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Everquest 2? Avatars? Attractiveness?
In one of my classes, T317- Children in the Media our teacher decided to give us extra credit if we agreed to participate in our AI’s research study. Desperately needing the extra points I decided to participate along with everyone else in the class. So our AI began his research study by passing out 3 papers that were stapled together. The first couple of questions we could answer on our own which were focused on attractiveness. We were to rate our answers on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the least attractive and 10 being the most attractive. We were first asked to rate ourselves and then rate how attractive we think society is around us. At this point we were still not told anything about the study, just simply told to answer the first few questions.
Then there were 2 more questions with yes or no answers where the questions centered around video games and computer games. They asked if we were knowledgeable on the subject of Second Life and the game Everquest 2.
After we answered those questions our AI told us that we would be shown some images of avatars and we were to do the same rating as before, 1 for how unattractive they were to 10 being very attractive. He didn’t explain to us what avatars were. If I had not taken C151- Intro to Pop Culture I would have been just as clueless as everyone else in the room. Fortunately I do know a little bit about Second Life and avatars therefore I knew what to expect from the images. As the first image popped up the room filled with laughter. The avatar was a large coyote looking person with large red eyes, wings, and armor protecting his body. No one was expecting this image and no one knew anything about it. The next image was just as unusual, an over sized toad with over sized hands holding weapons. There were 24 images of avatars that either had wings, were holding weapons, or had some type of armor protecting their body. After all 24 avatars had been shown and rated our AI had us turn in our papers and didn’t say anything else concerning the study, that was it.
Being familiar with avatars, Second Life, and knowing a little bit about War of the Worlds I understood what the characters were and why they looked so deformed. I could also tell that no one else in the class understood anything that was going on. I think our AI took the wrong approach by not explaining anything about the game Everquest 2 or even what avatars are. He just seemed to throw this study at us and not explain anything about it. After doing a little research I found out that the virtual game Everquest 2 involves combat fighting, hence the avatars armor. This was never explained to us. People didn’t know that there was a reason that these avatars were dressed a certain way, or why their deformities are a part of the game, they were just suppose to either know it or not question it. People also in the class didn’t know anything about avatars making the study, in my opinion, pretty pointless. Why have people rate of all things attractiveness on characters that they know nothing about? What kind of research is that? I think if he would have explained a little bit more either about the game or the design of avatars his study would have been a little more beneficial and people would have been more educated on the subject. I also think after the research answers were collected he could have explained why he chose to rate these avatars on a scale of attractiveness. I left the study full of questions but in actuality I was probably one of the most knowledgeable students concerning the subject topic.
What’s up with that?
Then there were 2 more questions with yes or no answers where the questions centered around video games and computer games. They asked if we were knowledgeable on the subject of Second Life and the game Everquest 2.
After we answered those questions our AI told us that we would be shown some images of avatars and we were to do the same rating as before, 1 for how unattractive they were to 10 being very attractive. He didn’t explain to us what avatars were. If I had not taken C151- Intro to Pop Culture I would have been just as clueless as everyone else in the room. Fortunately I do know a little bit about Second Life and avatars therefore I knew what to expect from the images. As the first image popped up the room filled with laughter. The avatar was a large coyote looking person with large red eyes, wings, and armor protecting his body. No one was expecting this image and no one knew anything about it. The next image was just as unusual, an over sized toad with over sized hands holding weapons. There were 24 images of avatars that either had wings, were holding weapons, or had some type of armor protecting their body. After all 24 avatars had been shown and rated our AI had us turn in our papers and didn’t say anything else concerning the study, that was it.
Being familiar with avatars, Second Life, and knowing a little bit about War of the Worlds I understood what the characters were and why they looked so deformed. I could also tell that no one else in the class understood anything that was going on. I think our AI took the wrong approach by not explaining anything about the game Everquest 2 or even what avatars are. He just seemed to throw this study at us and not explain anything about it. After doing a little research I found out that the virtual game Everquest 2 involves combat fighting, hence the avatars armor. This was never explained to us. People didn’t know that there was a reason that these avatars were dressed a certain way, or why their deformities are a part of the game, they were just suppose to either know it or not question it. People also in the class didn’t know anything about avatars making the study, in my opinion, pretty pointless. Why have people rate of all things attractiveness on characters that they know nothing about? What kind of research is that? I think if he would have explained a little bit more either about the game or the design of avatars his study would have been a little more beneficial and people would have been more educated on the subject. I also think after the research answers were collected he could have explained why he chose to rate these avatars on a scale of attractiveness. I left the study full of questions but in actuality I was probably one of the most knowledgeable students concerning the subject topic.
What’s up with that?
Saturday, April 19, 2008
tv-tv-tv
To catch up on my blogs I had to go back and re-read Neil Postman’s article, The Age of Show business regarding technology. It was very interesting on the subject of the internet, it’s is something we have been talking throughout the semester yet I just found it very appealing to compare this article, the first one of the semester to what we have been talking about here in the last weeks of the year.
Postman’s article focuses on technology as a control and a medium and also the biases of technology in the world. The article talks about the telegraph as being one of the first evolutionary technologies invented. The telegraph was a big stepping stone in the world for everything to follow from it grew and improved itself. What I got from rereading the article was the idea that Postman was trying to get us to actually think for ourselves. We are presented with all these technologies and opportunities to further our knowledge but it is up to us to actually use these tools to our advantage. We need to be the ones taking control of what we hear and choosing what to believe is real and not.
Postman also talked about the television as a technology that is being taken advantage of. Such things as the news and political debates was mentioned as being entertainment on TV rather than informative like it’s supposed to be. We as a society need to realize this when we see it and make the proper decisions to understand the real messages being sent out rather than the one that they want us to hear. We need to open the newspaper instead of believing everything we see on television.
Like I stated before, it was interesting to go back and reread this article and see how it’s subject and main focus touches on what we have recently been talking about in class. We have been focusing on Second Life and the internet as a media that many are attracted to. It’s easy to compare how the TV, like mentioned by Postman, and the internet are medias that many people become so involved in due to it’s easy access and simplicity.
A way to further my point on how the internet and TV are at our fingertips I have found a website (on the internet) which has television listings of programs. People no longer have to use such things as TV guides, or god forbid look up shows in the newspapers. It is now at a click of the button and you can find out when the next American Idol is on or what rerun of the Simpson’s is showing.
http://television.aol.com/
Postman’s article focuses on technology as a control and a medium and also the biases of technology in the world. The article talks about the telegraph as being one of the first evolutionary technologies invented. The telegraph was a big stepping stone in the world for everything to follow from it grew and improved itself. What I got from rereading the article was the idea that Postman was trying to get us to actually think for ourselves. We are presented with all these technologies and opportunities to further our knowledge but it is up to us to actually use these tools to our advantage. We need to be the ones taking control of what we hear and choosing what to believe is real and not.
Postman also talked about the television as a technology that is being taken advantage of. Such things as the news and political debates was mentioned as being entertainment on TV rather than informative like it’s supposed to be. We as a society need to realize this when we see it and make the proper decisions to understand the real messages being sent out rather than the one that they want us to hear. We need to open the newspaper instead of believing everything we see on television.
Like I stated before, it was interesting to go back and reread this article and see how it’s subject and main focus touches on what we have recently been talking about in class. We have been focusing on Second Life and the internet as a media that many are attracted to. It’s easy to compare how the TV, like mentioned by Postman, and the internet are medias that many people become so involved in due to it’s easy access and simplicity.
A way to further my point on how the internet and TV are at our fingertips I have found a website (on the internet) which has television listings of programs. People no longer have to use such things as TV guides, or god forbid look up shows in the newspapers. It is now at a click of the button and you can find out when the next American Idol is on or what rerun of the Simpson’s is showing.
http://television.aol.com/
OH FACEBOOK!!
The internet is a large network that has grown in the past years and will continue growing in years to come. Throughout the semester we have discussed many things pertaining to the internet but the last couple of weeks have become particularly interesting to me. Whether we were talking about Lambda Moos, Second Life, Facebook, of griefing I have taken an interest in each and every topic focused on. For this week we had a couple different readings pertaining to different topics that all had one thing in common, the internet.
Facebook, a word that was very new to me and many three and a half years ago, but when mentioned now it’s difficult to find anyone not know what you’re referring to. We talked mainly about facebook and even got a chance to check out our teacher’s facebook profile. Though to us facebook is more of a college student website, we clearly found out the type of network it has become. In one article we discussed how people were feeling violated by facebook and demanded a change. A petition was formed and passed around through bloggers demanding privacy settings to be changed. “Not surprisingly, the company was forced to adjust,” quoted one article. Though this change was made some still feel that facebook is not as private as it should be. The social network of facebook shows how strong the internet is today in 2008. For people to become outraged, demand a change, and receive a change all through the internet shows how important and how much of an influence the World Wide Web really has on society.
The articles also discussed through this week also explained how employers are actually surfing the web, including checking facebook and myspace pages to view future employees. Pictures, wall posts, and comments are all monitored and sometimes included in the decision making process when hiring future staff. As discussed in one article, a student teacher, age 25, was dismissed from her student teaching job due to a picture on her myspace page. There also was a student in class who told us that one of her friends received a job for next year, and two weeks after getting it she was told that she no longer had the position due to facebook pictures. No one really knows what employers are looking for and what they approve of and disprove of therefore it is difficult to know when one is crossing the line or not. All the subjects discussed in class give a better understanding to where the internet is today and its positives and negatives.
Facebook, a word that was very new to me and many three and a half years ago, but when mentioned now it’s difficult to find anyone not know what you’re referring to. We talked mainly about facebook and even got a chance to check out our teacher’s facebook profile. Though to us facebook is more of a college student website, we clearly found out the type of network it has become. In one article we discussed how people were feeling violated by facebook and demanded a change. A petition was formed and passed around through bloggers demanding privacy settings to be changed. “Not surprisingly, the company was forced to adjust,” quoted one article. Though this change was made some still feel that facebook is not as private as it should be. The social network of facebook shows how strong the internet is today in 2008. For people to become outraged, demand a change, and receive a change all through the internet shows how important and how much of an influence the World Wide Web really has on society.
The articles also discussed through this week also explained how employers are actually surfing the web, including checking facebook and myspace pages to view future employees. Pictures, wall posts, and comments are all monitored and sometimes included in the decision making process when hiring future staff. As discussed in one article, a student teacher, age 25, was dismissed from her student teaching job due to a picture on her myspace page. There also was a student in class who told us that one of her friends received a job for next year, and two weeks after getting it she was told that she no longer had the position due to facebook pictures. No one really knows what employers are looking for and what they approve of and disprove of therefore it is difficult to know when one is crossing the line or not. All the subjects discussed in class give a better understanding to where the internet is today and its positives and negatives.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
greifing
Julian Dibbell wrote the article titled, “Mutilated Flurries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World. The article discuses what the term Griefers applies to and it’s existence in online Second Life. Basically they are groups of people whose main purpose is to annoy other virtual world gamers. They will do anything and everything to annoy and piss off players which ultimately lead to players either logging off the game or watch their avatars become abused.
Griefing brings players lulz, which are laughs in Second Life. The griefing bring attacks and crashes servers on computers. It is done by various players online but it all focuses on one main purpose: to annoy and anger players.
Dibbell talks about the various groups of griefers, some of their names are: SA Goons, W-HAT, Voted 5/V5, and The Patriotic Nigras. In lecture we discussed one group, The Patriotic Nigras and talked about their characters. They all dress and appear to all look like African Americans. They claim that they are not a racist group, yet it is clear that their motives and appearances are racist. They say that they want to show that Second Life is taken way too seriously, yet their unwanted attacks show that they too take Second Life seriously. When they are kicked off or banned from their avatar characters they find other ways of opening new accounts. In my opinion if the online world somehow stopped all griefing they would be angered proving they take Second Life more than a game too.
As discussed in lecture, it is clear that I am 100% against greifing. I don’t understand why people would make virtual buildings of the twin towers with pictures of people jumping out the window. I was appalled when I read and discussed this subject in class and will continue to disagree with anyone who chooses to be a griefer online.
Griefing brings players lulz, which are laughs in Second Life. The griefing bring attacks and crashes servers on computers. It is done by various players online but it all focuses on one main purpose: to annoy and anger players.
Dibbell talks about the various groups of griefers, some of their names are: SA Goons, W-HAT, Voted 5/V5, and The Patriotic Nigras. In lecture we discussed one group, The Patriotic Nigras and talked about their characters. They all dress and appear to all look like African Americans. They claim that they are not a racist group, yet it is clear that their motives and appearances are racist. They say that they want to show that Second Life is taken way too seriously, yet their unwanted attacks show that they too take Second Life seriously. When they are kicked off or banned from their avatar characters they find other ways of opening new accounts. In my opinion if the online world somehow stopped all griefing they would be angered proving they take Second Life more than a game too.
As discussed in lecture, it is clear that I am 100% against greifing. I don’t understand why people would make virtual buildings of the twin towers with pictures of people jumping out the window. I was appalled when I read and discussed this subject in class and will continue to disagree with anyone who chooses to be a griefer online.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Gender-Swapping
Sherry Turkle wrote an article regarding gender-swapping called “Tinysex and Gender Trouble.” The idea of the article is about creating an identity online while gender swapping. Though this may seem very unusual and uncommon to many people Turkle makes a very good argument on the subject.
Online when you gender-swap you are wiping away social constraints. Many people wonder what it would be like to be the opposite sex and this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with it. Gender inequality is something that is very apparent in society, therefore if someone were to be the sex of a female and wonders what it is like to be treated like a male they can do it online. You create an identity completely different than yourself and see how others perceive you. The virtual life that you create is all up to you. In the online world you can say and do almost anything you want and don’t have to suffer any consequences. While creating your identity you also learn and act to be a different gender. For instance there are some things that males can get away with saying while if females do or say the same thing they are often judged or looked down upon. In my opinion the virtual world allows you to explore and act in ways that society would frown upon.
In the lecture we discussed how gender-swapping encourages personal growth and self-awareness. As I sat in class and listened to students comments I became very frustrated with their lack of being open minded. Students did not understand why someone would want to experiment with gender-swapping, but instead of embracing it and learning about it they were looking down upon it. I chose not to comment on their narrow mindlessness but as I sit here right now, being hidden from their judgments, I feel like I can say what I want. In my opinion this reflects what gender-swapping in the virtual world also does.
Some may think that in the virtual world gender-swapping only relates to people who are interested in becoming a transsexual. I do not believe this to be the case. As our teacher has explained through her research she too has experimented with gender-swapping, and to my indication she is not interested in becoming a transsexual. Learning how others treat you as the opposite sex is a very interesting subject. Like discussed in class, I believe it can be a sort of therapy session. In real life you cannot act a certain way without the consequences but in the virtual world you can. I have not played around with the virtual world but in time I may check it out. Sometimes people need to just get away from reality and try new things and I think the virtual world regarding gender-swapping is just the place to do this.
I found a study online regarding gender-swapping in the virtual world, and like Turkle, it brings up some very valid points. It talks about MUDs and MOOs and also gives reasoning why people choose to gender-swap in virtual worlds. There are comments and scenarios from people who have gender-swapped online and what they experienced. The outcomes are similar to what we discussed in class but again I would like to reiterate that the encounters that people have experienced are very interesting.
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Computing/Articles%2BResearchPapers/gender-swapping
Online when you gender-swap you are wiping away social constraints. Many people wonder what it would be like to be the opposite sex and this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with it. Gender inequality is something that is very apparent in society, therefore if someone were to be the sex of a female and wonders what it is like to be treated like a male they can do it online. You create an identity completely different than yourself and see how others perceive you. The virtual life that you create is all up to you. In the online world you can say and do almost anything you want and don’t have to suffer any consequences. While creating your identity you also learn and act to be a different gender. For instance there are some things that males can get away with saying while if females do or say the same thing they are often judged or looked down upon. In my opinion the virtual world allows you to explore and act in ways that society would frown upon.
In the lecture we discussed how gender-swapping encourages personal growth and self-awareness. As I sat in class and listened to students comments I became very frustrated with their lack of being open minded. Students did not understand why someone would want to experiment with gender-swapping, but instead of embracing it and learning about it they were looking down upon it. I chose not to comment on their narrow mindlessness but as I sit here right now, being hidden from their judgments, I feel like I can say what I want. In my opinion this reflects what gender-swapping in the virtual world also does.
Some may think that in the virtual world gender-swapping only relates to people who are interested in becoming a transsexual. I do not believe this to be the case. As our teacher has explained through her research she too has experimented with gender-swapping, and to my indication she is not interested in becoming a transsexual. Learning how others treat you as the opposite sex is a very interesting subject. Like discussed in class, I believe it can be a sort of therapy session. In real life you cannot act a certain way without the consequences but in the virtual world you can. I have not played around with the virtual world but in time I may check it out. Sometimes people need to just get away from reality and try new things and I think the virtual world regarding gender-swapping is just the place to do this.
I found a study online regarding gender-swapping in the virtual world, and like Turkle, it brings up some very valid points. It talks about MUDs and MOOs and also gives reasoning why people choose to gender-swap in virtual worlds. There are comments and scenarios from people who have gender-swapped online and what they experienced. The outcomes are similar to what we discussed in class but again I would like to reiterate that the encounters that people have experienced are very interesting.
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Computing/Articles%2BResearchPapers/gender-swapping
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